Design Inspired by Birds and Nature - Graphics for T-shirts

I have been traveling this summer. It has also been a time to explore, retrospect, look around and get inspired, with things and nature around me, for some of my designs. In my previous post, I updated about this design Flock of Flying Birds - Swarm of Swallows for Nature Lovers T-shirt. This graphic was designed for nature lovers and people who love birds. It presents a flock of birds, a swarm of Swallows flying. 

As the inspiration for this t-shirt is birds and nature I thought of preparing a video along with the inspiration. Like we were discussing earlier, flying birds have also been a symbol of freedom and independence. This video on YouTube channel of A Blaze By SK is a humble effort to present the inspiration, design and the the t-shirt. 

All this was executed during my travel and stay at different places, without any studio and on the go. I hope you will enjoy it and ignore the errors and shortcomings in this video compilation. 

This design is currently available on t-shirts (more coming soon) in fits for men, women and youth/ kids in 10 colors - black, navy, royal blue, baby blue, cranberry, kelly green, dark heather, heather blue, purple and orange. These t-shirts are currently on Amazon USA, UK and Germany, and more regions should be added soon:

Flock of Flying Birds - Swarm of Swallows for Nature Lovers T-shirt: Buy on Amazon USA

Flock of Flying Birds - Swarm of Swallows for Nature Lovers T-shirt : Buy on Amazon UK

Schwarm fliegender Vögel Schwalbenschwarm für Naturliebhaber T-shirt : Buy on Amazon Germany

Please do let me know your feedback and comments. Would love to hear from you.

Do like, follow and share: 

www.facebook.com/ABlazeBySK 

www.instagram.com/ABlazeBySK 

More updates coming soon on the website of A Blaze by SK.

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*Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase by clicking the links or the image links in this post.

"Design, Creative Expression and Covid-19" Webinar

I was invited as the resource person and speaker for the webinar on “Design, Creative Expression and Covid-19” organized by The Department of Fashion Design, The School of Science and Humanities at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai. E-Certificates were issued to the participants.

Date: 4th July -2020
Time: 10:00 A.M – 11.00 A.M

As the title mentions, this talk was about Design, Creative Expression and COVID-19, discussion about these aspects and how they culminate. 

My areas of research have been Design, Creativity and Creative Expression in relation to the psychology of creativity, fashion design and the digital versus manual mediums of design. The talk touched upon art while discussing creative expression, however, this talk was more on the creative aspects for designers and the challenges as well as opportunities, specifically in the context of fashion industry. 

I will not go into the details but with the participation in hundreds, question-answer session, response and feedback was great and it was a great experience for me as a speaker. There was a lot of curiosity around the concepts and discussed. The organizing team was very cordial and I am very thankful to them for organizing it and bringing together so many participants during such challenging times. I am thankful to all the participants and for their questions, participation as well as the great feedback they provided. Thank you. 

Summer Break - Time for Conceptualisation and Art Exploration

There has been a break. Summer break and some other things which I am going to talk about later. Art has been on my mind in spite of the break. Creating, painting, drawing, visiting art galleries and museums, and of course, reading - all these have been happening. 

More updates have been on my Facebook page lately than on blog. Also on Instagram @seemakumar9 and Twitter @seemakumar9. 

Art Exloration during Summer Vacation 2016 

©Seema Kumar

There are thoughts and ideas from the visits, art shows, museums, etc. Also ideas from my own explorations, and feedback from senior artists and my art professors - that I would like to work on. Overall, a lot has been happening during the break, in terms of conceptualisation, exploration and though process. As the summer vacation comes to an end, I am looking forward to put those ideas to work and enjoy more art exploration :D

Happy Durga Pooja

May this festival that reinforces the hope of victory of good over evil help us in our own victory of good over the evil and demons within us. Wish you all a very Happy Durga Pooja.

Great Story-telling Clues by Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Video)

While looking for inspirational videos for writers, I came across this page 13 Inspirational TED Talks for Writers. Wanted to share a video which I watched here. It is a talk by filmmaker Andrew Stanton. As Wikipedia describes him:

Andrew Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor based at Pixar Animation Studios. His film work includes writing and directing Pixar's A Bug's Life (as co-director), Finding Nemo and WALL-E, and his first live-action film, John Carter. He also co-wrote every film of the Toy Story franchise and Monsters, Inc..

I found it a great talk in a very simple manner. I enjoyed watching WALL-E. I have watched Finding Nemo innumerable times with my little daughter who was first shown this movie by Ashish. She just loved it and used to watch it again and again since her pre-school days, not to mention that I loved watching it, too. When I saw the video caption, I wanted to find out what makes such a great story-teller, and I was not disappointed. Watch it for yourself if you are interested in story-telling or writing.

The video is embedded below and details about the video that are mentioned in the post are:

3. Andrew Stanton: The Clues to a Great Story
Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, WALL-E) shares what he knows about storytelling — starting at the end and working back to the beginning.

Strive for Value

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value"
- Albert Einstein

"Failure Is Not The Worst Outcome, Mediocrity Is"

Came across an article on http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130129175923-658789-failure-is-not-the-worst-outcome-mediocrity-is which inspired me and thought of sharing.

Inspired by his friend Drew Houston, the founder and CEO of Dropbox, the author Dharmesh Shah talks about why, for startups, the worst is not failing but being stuck in a quagmire of mediocrity. Though few entrepreneurial endeavors are wastes of time, just sub-optimal. Some things to ponder upon are:

"what's worse than failing is going sideways for years and years. The reason mediocrity is worse than failure is very simple: Failure lets you move on, mediocrity stalls you and keeps you from reaching your potential."

"Pursue something so important that even if you fail, the world is better off with you having tried." - an idea that Tim O'Reilly planted in the author's head.

"It's hard to give up something you've toiled away at. It's hard to all of a sudden admit "you know, my friends may have been right..." It's hard, because we're human and we become emotionally attached to the things we build. Particularly things we've had to defend against the cold, hard world. Things we've had to nurture and defend. Things that in some ways define our identity. I have no brilliant insights other than: Be honest with yourself and be mindful of your opportunity cost. Life is short. We have a limited amount of time to achieve our potential."

A Motivating Story About 'TIME'

The story below is not written by me. I have read it many times on different occasions, forwarded to me by different people. But this is one of those stories which has brought out a new meaning every time I have read it. So today when I came across this story once again, I just wanted to post it on my blog.. so that I can come back to it when I wanted to re-read :)

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A woman came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find her 5-year old son waiting for her at the door.

SON: 'Mummy, may I ask you a question?'

MUM: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the woman.

SON: 'Mummy, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the woman said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'If you must know, I make  $20 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: "Mummy, may I please borrow $5?"

The mother was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door..

The woman sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions.. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the woman had calmed down, and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $5 and he really didn't ask for money very often.The woman went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' She asked.

'No Mummy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the woman. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $5 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you Mummy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The woman saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his mother.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the mother grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Mummy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow.

I would like to have dinner with you.'

The mother was crushed. She put her arms around her little son, and she begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $20 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. 

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Some Quotations for Motivation

"If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either."

"The suffering of each depends not upon the factual happenings, but upon the texture of each one's mind"

"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs"

All powers, all abilities, which never belonged to us suddenly come alive when we say "I HAVE TO DO IT !"

"I do not know if SUCCESS gives happiness, but I DO know that a HAPPY MIND can lead to mighty success."

Motivational Quotes that motivated me

Today I recalled some of the old quotations.. from my school days and wanted to put them here .. like the thought for the day, and to remain here to read:

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Do not be too moral.
You may cheat yourself out of much life.
Aim above morality.

Be not simply good; be good for something.

- Henry David Thoreau

[US Transcendentalist author (1817 - 1862)]

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Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself.

- Joel Hawes

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All things are difficult before they are easy.

- Dr. Thomas Fuller,

Gnomologia, 1732British physician (1654 - 1734)

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